Sixers Losing Streak Reaches 11 Against Miami

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Miami 112, Philadelphia 102 – Box Score

Someone tweeted out that we’re talking about the O.J. Simpson murder trial, a Clinton is running for president, and there are new Full House episodes airing; we’ve basically gone through a time warp to 1995. The Sixers organization must have basically gone through that same time warp Friday night, because Elton Brand was on the court for the big club and Baron Davis was dunking and throwing 40-foot alley-oops for the Delaware D-league affiliate.

Baron Davis is back…with a dunk!!!https://t.co/xwnMTd1YFU

— Sportando (@Sportando) March 5, 2016

Unfortunately, when it came to the results on the court for the Sixers, Friday night was very much like the present with Philadelphia suffering its 11th straight loss. Miami jumped out to a 20-4 lead and went on to drop a whopping 40 points in the first quarter. All 5 starters finished in double figures for the Heat, while Dwayne Wade scored a team-high 21 points and Hassan Whiteside dominated coming off the bench with 19 points and 19 rebounds.

To their credit, the Sixers did fight back to briefly assume a lead in the third quarter. The charge was led by Ish Smith (26 points) and Robert Covington (25 points). Smith, in particular, had a nice night, shooting an efficient 11-21 from the field, while adding 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Even after Philadelphia went ahead though, the Heat quickly regrouped and the eventual result was never in doubt.

It was pretty obvious even before things tipped off that Sixers fans were in for a long night. Brett Brown was denied the services of Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, and Kendall Marshall, all sitting out with various minor injuries and ailments. With both young big men sidelined, Brown tried starting Carl Landry at center, which went about as terribly as one could possibly imagine. In just 9 minutes of action, Landry shot 0-4 from the field and committed 5 personal fouls.

There were a few fun consequences of the team being short-handed, one being extended minutes for Richaun Holmes. The rookie played 25 minutes off the bench, recording 13 points and 8 rebounds. The Bowling Green product looked much more comfortable against the sinewy group of Heat big men than when he was eaten alive by the bruising Al Jefferson the other night.

Also, the Old School Chevy finally made it out onto the road! Elton Brand played his first action of the season, finishing with 8 points on 3-6 shooting from the field, and 4 rebounds in 13 minutes of action. Despite turning 37 years old next week, Brand still looked good out there and professionally went about his business doing a lot of the little details during the game that the young guys sometimes ignore.

Recent 10-day signing Christian Wood was active for the game, but did not appear against the Heat. I guess Brown didn’t feel comfortable having him out there with Wood just having re-joined the team a few hours before tip-off? It seemed like it would have been an ideal opportunity to take a look at him, given that the usually crowded frontcourt was trimmed down with Noel and Okafor both out.

The Sixers will be right back against these Heat Sunday night as part of a rare home-and-home series. Given what we saw Friday night, 12 straight defeats would appear to be on the horizon.